Former Judas Priest guitarist Ok.Ok. Downing accused his ex-bandmates of breaking guarantees relating to their shared enterprise pursuits, saying they’d stopped paying him his share of earnings 5 years in the past.

The bad-tempered dispute started after he give up the band 11 years in the past, and was changed by Richie Faulkner. Since then, he’s reported that he’d tried to rejoin on quite a lot of events, solely to be rebuffed every time.

“Since about 2017… Beforehand they upheld their promise, despite the fact that they by no means gave my any accounts, they’d make disbursements to me for what I used to be promised,” Downing advised Blabbermouth in an announcement. “[Y]ou know, a part of what I used to be entitled to from every little thing that I used to be part of; clearly merchandise, et cetera. After which that each one stopped. I began to get authorized letters. And I implored them, ‘Don’t go down this route. Let me come down. I’m blissful to sit down round a desk and talk about any points that should be mentioned.’ And so they mentioned no. And so the authorized letters stored coming.”

He continued: “They’ve ousted me as a director [of Judas Priest Music Limited]. They’ve kicked me off the board, because it’s three of them and certainly one of me. I’m nonetheless a 25 % shareholder, however they mentioned it’s nugatory, it isn’t price something, they usually do not pay me something of something that I used to be concerned with — interval. So anybody that goes out and buys the Fiftieth-anniversary field set, I don’t get something from it. I’ve requested them if I am gonna get something from it they usually have not returned my e-mails. And it is the identical with any of the merchandise that you just see on sale on the venues or in retail or anyplace else.”

The assertion was a response to a latest interview with Glenn Tipton, who advised Guitar World that Downing, regardless of his feedback, had “by no means approached any of the band and requested to rejoin” and had truly been invited to return simply earlier than Faulkner arrived on the scene. ”However he didn’t do something,” Tipton asserted. “He didn’t ask to return again.”

Downing countered that he’d written to Judas Priest “on two or three events now – lately, in all probability since about 2017 – asking to be reinstated. However even once they [briefly] selected to go as a four-piece, they by no means gave me any consideration, a possibility to return again into the band. And I completely am completely satisfied they by no means would beforehand, no matter what Glenn says.”